Hobbiton

December 18, 2014 - Part 1

We woke up early this morning and had breakfast.  David and I walked the half hour to get to Hertz where we picked up our rental car.  We put the kids in charge of making sandwiches for lunch while we were gone.  It was a really nice walk with a bit of drizzling rain, but at least it was fairly warm and it wasn't windy anymore.  Once we got back to the apartment we loaded up the car and headed south from Auckland to Hobbiton.

We left the city at 9:00 a.m. and it was a lovely 2 hour drive.  It was so nice to be out of the city and surrounded by greenery.  The New Zealand countryside is absolutely gorgeous!  It rained most of the drive although the sun did peek through once or twice. I was a bit worried that it would be pouring down rain the entire time we were visiting Hobbiton.

We arrived at 11:00 a.m. and were able to change our 12:30 p.m. reservation to 11:40 a.m., so our timing worked out really well.  They take you from the parking area (called the Shire's Rest) in a bus to where the actual hobbit holes are.  They are hidden in a little valley a few minutes away.  The two hour tour was really great and we took so many pictures.  I wish we could just have stayed there all day.  It all began at this lovely little entrance...

There were signposts to lead you in the right direction, East Farthing and West Farthing.

There were two sizes of hobbit holes, ones built at 90% and ones built at 60%, this one is one of the larger ones.

And this is one of the smaller ones...

It seemed as if there were gorgeous views everywhere.  I just wanted to live there!

The tree in the picture below is the one above Bilbo's place in Bag End.  It is 80% artificial for the trunk, meaning that they spliced in the original tree in this location every 1 foot out of 5 feet.  Every single leaf on this tree is fake, though.

Even when you thought you were looking off into the distance, there would be a hobbit hole you hadn't noticed before.   I can just imaging having a lovely view like this...

This is looking down at the party tree.  Although it looks fake, it is real!  Hobbiton is actually in this location because of this tree and the lake behind it.  The filming scout was looking for something exactly like this for Peter Jackson (director of The Lord of the Rings).

It was great to be able to stand in the doorway...

Looking across the lake to The Green Dragon Inn.

I love how they put little fires in some of the chimneys.  It really made the place feel alive.

And this is Bilbo's place...

You can see in the doorway of his place..

Danika and Jason at the front of one of the smaller holes.

David loved the fact that they still hang out laundry.  There is a path worn where it was one person's sole job each day of filming to hang out laundry..  They still do it every day!

The attention to detail is amazing. I really enjoyed peeking in all of the windows.

There were so many different little holes and they all had their distinguishing features.  It was interesting that they actually had artist holes, taylor holes, baker holes, and more...

It seemed like no matter which direction you turned, you saw more hidden holes.

This was the area where Bilbo's birthday party was held.

We wanted to spend all day exploring, but you only get 2 hours... so sad...

This was the view from the majority of the holes looking across the lake to The Green Dragon Inn.

The tour ends up at The Green Dragon where they provide you with a free drink of Girdley Fine Grain Amber Ale, Oak Barton Brew Traditional English Ale, or ginger beer.  We enjoyed relaxing for a bit and taking in the fine details of the pub. Take a look at the carved green dragon above the bar!

I loved the round windows.

Danika fell in love with Ginger Beer while we were here.

They also had a few costumes you could try out.  The kids were not brave enough, but David and I had a good time!  I think we embarrassed them, which is always a good thing.

Back outside, we looked across the lake to see a few more hidden holes along the lake shore.  If you look closely down by the water you can see them. There is fishing gear outside too!

This is the party tree from across the lake with the party grounds off to the left.  You can see the little hobbit holes better from here too.

Looking back at The Green Dragon Inn as we are leaving.

I stopped by this little window sticking out of the ground just to give you an idea of the attention to detail that was put into everything.  This window was all on it's own. You can see how small it is, and not sure how much of it would show in a shot, but it has full on curtains and a vase of roses set inside.

It was so hard for me to say goodbye as I could have stayed there all day! After the tour they take you back on your bus for the few minutes ride to the parking lot.  We stayed near the car park at the Shire's Rest and had lunch before getting on the road.  The view there was pretty good too!

And then it was time to leave and drive to Rotorua.  I will make a separate post for this evening's adventures because we go to the Maori Cultural Experience.